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Sunday, March 05, 2006

In the "Thank God no one was killed" category a report on the attack by some whack job on innocents on the University of North Carolina campus:

A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate told investigators he intentionally drove into a crowd of students on campus Friday to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world," UNC Police Chief Derek Poarch said Saturday.Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, told detectives to go to the Carrboro apartment he shared with two other men, saying authorities would find evidence there that would explain his decision to hurt students. Poarch declined to say what, if anything, was found, but emphasized that Taheri-azar appears to have acted alone.

It does not appear that Friday's attack had anything to do with a recent editorial criticizing Arabs and a cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad in the campus newspaper, both of which angered many Muslim students, Poarch said at a news conference Saturday.

But because Taheri-azar's statements to police suggested a political motive, campus authorities contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said.

Taheri-azar was charged Friday night in the Orange County Magistrate Court in Chapel Hill with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. There were no federal charges Saturday.

He is being held in Central Prison in Raleigh in lieu of a $5.5 million bail because he's considered a high-profile prisoner and because of the size of the bail, Poarch said.

I understand that the incident occurred in the "Pit" a space in between the Student Union and the main Undergraduate Library. It is not directly on any streets or roads:

The area has broad walkways that can be used as fire lanes, but it has no streets. Taheri-azar drove a Jeep Cherokee from a parking lot in almost a U-shape through a cluster of off-street buildings, looping past the dining hall and veering between it and one of the libraries before he reached a side road and sped away, (source)

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The main focus of this blog is maritime security. Other matters may appear. I am a retired attorney and a retired Navy Reserve Captain (Surface Warfare). Opinions expressed herein are my own. Sometimes I have the experience to back them up. Your opinions may vary. Don't panic. Feel free to disagree, that's what free speech is all about.
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